752 and Counting!

A challenge update...

It was just about a month ago when I set a personal pull up challenge to kick off 2010. It was a simple one that would prove to be a lot of fun & full of experimentation more than anything else. The premise was simple; see how long (with normal workout scheduling) it would take to complete 2010 pull ups.

This was never about volume or we would have knocked them out in short order kipping away. No, this was about seeking variety, challenge and exploring/finding the true benefits of the pull up. It hasn't let me down.

As I type, my lats and forearms are tender from this week alone; weighted pull ups, super strict dead hang pull ups and towel pull ups all made it into my programming. The past several weeks have forced me out of the comfortable "kipping" mode where knocking down high volume was the order and the result has been a test of my strength and a true measure of my progress made over time.

The overall experience also reinforces the idea that you can't judge kipping versus other pull up varieties as either better or worse. The point remains that every variation brings with it something else. Sobering for me was what appeared at the beginning of the challenge to be a set back in my ability to do strict dead hangs. Had I gotten weaker? It had just been too long since I had focussed there. In the subsequent weeks, the commitment to other variations engaging new muscles (and relying less on the momentum gained from the hips and the swing when kipping) quickly woke me up both physically and mentally; I can now produce more consecutive strict pull ups and can really see how far I have come since last summer...real progress at last.

When hitting the gym this week, I will use two adjacent hanging ropes and rings for pull ups requiring good balance and core strength. Then on to the thick bar, where I plan to mess around a while. While used occasionally, I am gonna experiment with 2", 2 1/2" bars and others with a variety of hand positions to see where that takes us.

So we continue....rings, ropes and thick bars.... the count is still on!